Moving Sidewalks: I Want to Hold Your Hand (1968)

 |   |  <1 min read

Moving Sidewalks: I Want to Hold Your Hand (1968)

Elsewhere always enjoys finding odd versions of Beatles songs (we've had them barked by dogs and bellowed by tuneless Russian sailors) but this one isn't so much strange as . . . unusually unexpected, in a good way.

Moving Sidewalks were the Texas band in which the young Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top found his feet and buzzing guitar style, which so impressed Eric Clapton at this time he went over and shook Gibbons' hand after hearing the band rehearsing.

Gibbons was also powerfully influenced by Jimi Hendrix -- as were most guitarists -- and in this alternate version of their stab at the Beatles pop classic you can hear them turning it into something much more Jimi-like.

It's an unusual song for them to choose given its teenage lyrics and they are clearly adults intent on dirtying it up.

The pity is that it fades when you can hear Gibbons winding up for some kiss-the-sky soloing over Dan Mitchell's take on the Experience's Mitch Mitchell's style.

For other one-off songs with a bit of history or an interesting back-story see From the Vaults.

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   From the Vaults articles index

Willie Nelson: Cowboys are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other (2006)

Willie Nelson: Cowboys are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other (2006)

When this Willie Nelson song started to get a bit of attention around the time of the movie Brokeback Mountain, many people -- myself included -- assumed it had been prompted by that film. But... > Read more

The Woofers and Tweeters Ensemble: Daytripper (1983)

The Woofers and Tweeters Ensemble: Daytripper (1983)

And you thought YouTube threw up fly-by-night stars and oddities? This one puts the surfing cat and dancing pig into perspective. In the early Eighties a couple of Australians -- over a few... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

ELLIOTT SMITH AND THE BIG NOTHING  by BENJAMIN NUGENT: A friend in need is a . . . pain?

ELLIOTT SMITH AND THE BIG NOTHING by BENJAMIN NUGENT: A friend in need is a . . . pain?

When American singer-songwriter Smith was found dead in October 2003 at age 34 it hardly came as a surprise to many of his small but loyal following. Smith’s lyrics had been suffused in... > Read more

LILA DOWNS INTERVIEWED 2007: Singing the politics and heritage of Mexico

LILA DOWNS INTERVIEWED 2007: Singing the politics and heritage of Mexico

Lila Downs admits she is surprised her music has become internationally successful. After all, much of what she sings is in Spanish, it speaks of the pride and plight of the Mexican and Indian... > Read more